My Lady Finger bananas are now producing well but this means that you have to do something with 100 or so bananas all ripening at once. I decided to try making Strawberry & Banana Jam. I regularly use Jam Setting Sugar that has pectin in it to make quick and easy fruit jams - you just need 1kg of whatever fruit or fruit combination you happen to have available. 500g hulled strawberries (I used frozen) 500g peeled bananas 1kg jam setting sugar ~10g knob of butter Mash strawberries … [Read more...]
Caramelised Banana Jam Recipe
Bananas aren't the first fruit you think of for making jam, but this Caramelised Banana Jam recipe brings in a whole range of delicious flavours. If you want more of a Caribbean flavour, then add some rum at the end of the process. I had 2 big bunches of Lady Finger bananas that were ripening all at once so that I had hundreds of bananas to use up all at once. I'd frozen several large bags of peeled bananas to use for making banana cake, blueberry banana muffins and banana icecream - and … [Read more...]
Rhubarb & Banana Jam
Late summer in the garden: rhubarb flopping everywhere, huge bunches of bananas ripening at once, and then reading in a gardening magazine that Rhubarb & Banana Jam is a thing - and a delicious one at that. Who would have thought it? I wasn't 100% convinced to start with so I added a few strawberries as well to give it some more flavour and juice, and used a tried and true simple jam making method that uses jam setting sugar (with pectin already included for you). 500g rhubarb … [Read more...]
Growing Bananas at Home – Success!
Back in 2015 I first wrote about growing bananas at home and how I had got some ladyfinger banana suckers from my friend Michele. Three years on I have finally seen success: this year I have 3 bunches of bananas. I had been beginning to wonder whether I would ever see success with my bananas. I had taken care to provide water and nutrients. Soil moisture is apparently one of the most important factors: lack of water at any time may cause a reduction in fruit numbers and size. Even though … [Read more...]
Blueberry Banana Oat Muffins
Blueberry Banana Oat Muffins are the perfect on-the-go breakfast or an anytime snack. Blueberries, bananas, oats and eggs are stuffed full of health benefits so are perfect to include in your diet every day and these muffins make it possible for you to enjoy them any time. 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) 2 eggs 2 cup rolled oats 2 bananas, medium ripe 1 cup brown sugar* 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla essence Preheat oven to 200C. Grease a muffin pan or line with baking … [Read more...]
Healthy Banana Icecream Recipe
I couldn't believe that a delicious recipe for icecream could be this simple. Even more amazing is that whipped up frozen bananas do actually have the consistency of traditional icecream. And it is healthy! Slice bananas and freeze until solid. Place frozen bananas in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy (thawing the bananas for 5 minutes first makes it easier to blitz). Eat immediately or refreeze if desired to use later. If using later, remove from freezer a few minutes … [Read more...]
Growing Bananas at Home
Growing bananas at home was never something I had contemplated. I always associated bananas with being imported from tropical countries that are much warmer than New Zealand. Even though I had seen banana trees growing in people's gardens around Auckland, I had never seen any producing fruit and assumed they were all ornamentals. Then I was round at my friend Michele's place and was astounded to see huge bunches of lady finger bananas on trees growing in their garden. When their trees … [Read more...]
Versatile Banana Cake Recipe
Having a good banana cake recipe is a must - even if it is just a way to use up all those bananas that you put in the freezer when they got too ripe. This recipe is one of the very first recipes that I hand-wrote into my very first cookbook (the measurements are in ounces rather than grams). It is such a versatile recipe to have and I use it in lots of different ways to make cakes, muffins and desserts - it has never failed me. The basic recipe is the same whatever you are making: 4 oz … [Read more...]